FAMILY owned bus and coach operator Blue Bus Tours have been severely impacted by the COVID-19 shutdowns and owner Geoff Jacob said they were not out of the woods yet.
"Friday (March 13) was the start of the rot for us and we have since lost thousands of bookings," Mr Jacob said.
The Redland Bay tour operators cater for charters, school excursions, senior day trips and extended tours.
Mr Jacob was forced to cancel long distance tours including a trip to the Celtic Festival as well as an international tour as borders shut all around the world.
Up until last week, Blue Bus Tours could only carry 12 passengers that Mr Jacob said was not viable for his business. But now that restrictions have eased the tour operator faced a long road ahead.
"We deregistered part of our fleet in March and now since restrictions have eased we will have to pay extra money to get them back on the road - we are not sure if we will even be using all 11 coaches," he said.
Mr Jacob said a large part of their business came from seniors clubs including Probus, however the groups were no longer meeting regularly and some had disbanded when the pandemic struck.
"It is very hard as seniors, particularly, are still not confident to travel again. People are tentative to book," he said.
The tours are planned months in advanced, deposits are paid and accommodation is booked.
"We don't know what we will get back to. It's hard for us to plan as we don't know if places are open anymore. We will have to change our whole itineraries," he said.
Executive director for the Bus Industry Confederation Michael Apps has urged the federal government to extend JobKeeper for the coach touring industry.
"We anticipate it will take another 12 to 18 months before the industry is able to transition out of this crisis and into its recovery," he said.
"We have developed a rescue package that includes financial assistance to provide a full diesel rebate, like the mining sector receives, the extension of JobKeeper for our industry beyond September and consideration of a travel rebate of fares to encourage the Australian public to travel."
Angela Kelly
Redland City Bulletin senior journalist covering politics, community issues and human interest stories. South African living the dream in Australia.
Redland City Bulletin senior journalist covering politics, community issues and human interest stories. South African living the dream in Australia.
